Has Dusty Been Living in a Cave?

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Mar 8, 2006 8:51PM

For those who've been living in a cave for the past three years, this week's Sports Illustrated cover story may come as a surprise to you -- Barry Bonds used steroids! Excerpted from the upcoming book Game of Shadows, by Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, the article details the extensive regiment of steroids, supplements, growth hormones and other chemicals the slugger used to bulk up on his way to breaking the single-season home run record.

If you were one of those cave dwellers, at least you had company. Cubs manager Dusty Baker was in there with you, as he was oblivious to Bonds' steroids use, as well. And Baker was Bonds' manager with the San Francisco Giants from 1993-2002. So it'd seem pretty likely he might know something.

"Everybody saw the physical change," Baker said. "You didn't know if Barry was [just] lifting weights, because he lifts all the time. [The book] says I wasn't interested, but what are you going to do? I'm not a detective. What are you going to do as a manager?" It doesn't exactly seem to be a case for Encyclopedia Brown -- the extent of Bonds' regiment and the regular presense of his supplier would imply that if you wanted to see something, it was there to be seen. The Trib article notes that:

Bonds' alleged supplier, Greg Anderson, frequently was in the clubhouse when Baker managed the Giants. Baker said he had "no clue" about Anderson's alleged activities and thought he was Bonds' trainer, as Bonds had described him to management.

Either Baker is just covering up for his former superstar player, or he's proving to be as out of touch as President Bush. Chicagoist is surprised he didn't confess, "I don't think anybody had any idea that players might want to bulk up illegally to improve their on-field performance." And if Baker was oblivious to Bonds' steroid use while he managed the Giants, which activities of Sammy Sosa avoided his detection in the Cubs' clubhouse?

Image via MSNBC